For Historic Trenton’s Day in the Life, we’re looking back through newspapers from the beginning and examining everyday problems, solutions, and needs during historic Trenton’s past. Today, we go back to Saturday, December 16, 1911.
Today’s lead story for the Times was Nation’s Doors Guarded Now by Mats Made Here. This article discussed how the Trenton Rubber Company made shipments to parts of the United States. The city of Trenton has a long history of rubber companies. Check out this other article featuring Home Rubber Company, which has worked out the same building for over 140 years.
Among the stories, we discover that The Roebling Family gave $1,000 to aid for the Police Pension Fund, which brought a tear to the captain’s eye according to the story. To quote the Times. “It was such good news for the fund that tears started in the eyes of Captain Cleary.”
A brief article featured a “well-known Trenton man whose name, until very recently, appeared on the city’s payroll” for a trip to Philadelphia looking for a ready-made overcoat. According to the article, he found one he liked and “counted out 40 Trenton-earned dollars.” When coming home on the train, this well-known Trenton man came into contact with another Trentonian in North Philadelphia who was wearing the same coat. The man asked the Trentonian where he bought the coat and the Trentonian responded: in Trenton for $35. The author finished the article with “BUY IN TRENTON” just like that.
The stock was advancing, there was little more than a week until Christmas, and Trenton was in the shopping mood across the city. Though not Trenton-based, hidden in the corner of the paper sat a brief on John Hays Hammond Jr., who invented a new torpedo that can be controlled through wireless electrical waves.
That is what made news across the city in Trenton in 1911. Stay tuned for the next article about Historic Trenton during Christmas week.
